Prince's 'RALLY 4 PEACE' says it's for Baltimore, but is it really?

Doodle by Edward Ericson Jr.

Doodle by Edward Ericson Jr.

Brandon Weigel

People were thrilled to learn that the Purple One, Prince, had written a song about Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray's death and days of civic unrest. They were even more excited when the pop legend announced last night he would be performing a RALLY 4 PEACE this Sunday, with a portion of proceeds going to an as-yet-unnamed charity.

Tickets for the show just went on sale, and though some were available for $22 (before the Ticketmaster-Live Nation conglomerate tacks on its exorbitant fees), the remainder of seats go in the range of $122-$497. Naturally, the $22 tickets sold out rather quickly (as of this writing, the cheapest tickets available were $197).

So let's think about this for a second: A show meant to mend the wounds brought about by economic oppression and structural racism costs more than $100 to attend? Something tells us many of the people affected by these problems, the same people the show is supposedly seeking out, couldn't afford the cost of entry.

While we're at it, tickets for the concert were only available for sale online; nobody could purchase them at the box office. As a 2013 Technical.ly Baltimore article notes, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has previously said between 20 to 40 percent of Baltimore's 620,000 residents don't have internet access in their homes.

Adding insult to injury, all tickets, of course, included Ticketmaster's ridiculous fees that would have been drastically reduced if City Council had not gutted a bill on the topic last year.